Gas turbine engines are used to power aircraft, watercraft, power generators, and the like. Gas turbine engines typically include a compressor, a combustor, and a turbine. The compressor compresses air drawn into the engine and delivers high pressure air to the combustor. In the combustor, fuel is mixed with the high pressure air and is ignited. Products of the combustion reaction in the combustor are directed into the turbine where work is extracted to drive the compressor and, sometimes, an output shaft.
Combustors and turbines made of metal alloys requiring significant cooling to be maintained at or below their maximum use temperatures. The operational efficiencies of gas turbine engines are increased with the use of ceramic matrix composite (CMC) materials that require less cooling and having operating temperatures which exceed the maximum use temperatures of metal alloys. The reduced cooling required by CMC combustor liners when compared to metal alloys permits combustor profiles to be flattened and thereby leads to reduced NOx emmisions.
CMC combustor liners sometimes utilize a single wall design in which a single wall having an inner liner wall and an outer liner wall is formed using a pair of hoops. Accomplishing a transition between the CMC liner material and a metal shell surrounding the liner material is a significant concern. The selection of means for attaching the liners used in CMC tiled liners to the surrounding metal shell also poses significant challenges.